小
small / tiny / few / young
小
=
八
+
亅
:
Mnemonic symbol: a small daisy. 小 looks like the stem 亅 of the flower is pushing aside the earth 八 as it grows out of the seed in the ground. Marie Curie (xi) is researching the inner structure of the eight-ball (八) in the aorta's living room (ao3). To this end, the accelerates an eight-ball by hitting it with a crowbar (亅) so that it hits another eight-ball at high speed. As the two eight-balls collide, a lot of daisies (小) are generated from the released energy, only to decay again a few moments later.
小 character breakdown
"vertical stroke with hook" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 6) / see also 豎鉤|竖钩[shu4 gou1]
Mnemonic symbol: 亅 looks like a crowbar. Zeus (ju) is bored and presses all the buttons next to the elevator kitchen's (e2) door with his crowbar (亅).
Characters with 小 as component
to learn / to study / to imitate / science / -ology
fine silk / Kangxi radical 120
糸
=
小
+
幺
:
In the space station's bathroom, Marilyn Monroe uses zero gravity to fulfill her lifelong dream of flying on a carpet like Aladdin. In the space station she doesn't have a carpet, but she has a large ace on which she sits. She uses a silken scarf as a turban, and she holds a daisy in her hand as magic wand.
always / ever / often / frequently / common / general / constant
常
=
小
+
冖
+
吊
:
Charlie Chaplin is fighting his way through anglepod's underbrush with a coat hanger. The anglepod has not been visited in a hundred years, and with his coat hanger, Charlie Chaplin has to cut down a lot of daisies. Finally he found what he was looking for: the centennial light, protected from the daisies and the rain by a cooking top.
capital city of a country / big / algebraic term for a large number (old) / artificial mound (old)
京
=
亠
+
口
+
小
:
Mnemonic symbol: Beijing is China's capital, and a characteristic landmark of Beijing is the building called the underpants. Joan of Arc (ji) is trying out Beijing's large underpants (京) in front of the engine ((e)ng1). The underpants have a nice pattern consisting of paintings of berets (亠), mandarins (口) and daisies (小).
few / less / to lack / to be missing / to stop (doing sth) / seldom
Words with 小
(last line of the poem 望岳 by Tang poet Du Fu 杜甫[Du4 Fu3]) with one look I shall see all the smaller mountains down below (from the summit of Mt Tai 泰山[Tai4 Shan1]) / (fig.) awe-inspiring view from a very high place
(Tw) (vulgar) what the hell? (from Taiwanese 啥潲, Tai-lo pr. [siánn-siâ], equivalent to Mandarin 什麼|什么[shen2 me5])
lit. above are the elderly, below are the young (idiom) / fig. to have to take care of both one's aging parents and one's children / sandwich generation
case insensitive / not distinguishing capitals from lowercase letters